


Termini Delenimentis

by Sunshinegrimes



Category: Altered Carbon (TV)
Genre: AI have no concept of gender or sexuality, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexual Character, Asexual Takeshi Kovacs, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Massage, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Takeshi Kovacs, Panromantic Poe, Panromantic Takeshi Kovacs, Past Relationship(s), Poe is very suportive, Post-Canon, Relationship Discussions, Set after 1x10, Tak has issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 23:41:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18108893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunshinegrimes/pseuds/Sunshinegrimes
Summary: "Putting a label on what they had was difficult, but then again, maybe it didn’t need one."In a future where the concept of personal identity surpasses limitations of flesh, how does one come to quantify self, sexuality, and the multitudes of love? Set some months after the events of 1x10, a newly freed Takeshi Kovacs is in a committed relationship with Poe. Although their relationship appears to be without fault, there remain some personal issues that still need to be addressed.----*SPOILERS FOR THE END OF ALTERED CARBON SEASON 1*





	Termini Delenimentis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DoctorIdiot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorIdiot/gifts).



> *Note,   
> In the TV Series adaptation of Altered Carbon, there is no on-screen sexual assault in VR between Dimitri Kadmin and Takeshi. However, in the original book, Takeshi is placed in a menstruating female body for the duration of the VR torture, and the scene is far closer to rape and sexual abuse. This story references this past sexual torture, but does not go into any form of detail, I simply wish to put the Rape/Non Con warning, and appropriate tags, so no one is accidentally caught out!

_Putting a label on what they had was difficult, but then again, maybe it didn’t need one._

“Look, Poe, all I’m saying is you’ve gotta stop calling me your ‘boyfriend’. You got it?”

“Oh, I see. I suppose the label is rather juvenile. Would you prefer I call you something else?”

“Like what?”

“My other half, perhaps?”

“No.” Takeshi cringed, and ran a hand down his face. Takeshi hated that phrase, hated the implication that without another person, they weren’t whole. Some people adored the concept of a soul mate, a singular person that was perfect, that was “The One”. Takeshi had loved many people over the years he had been alive. He had loved enough to know that love isn’t a quantifiable emotion, and you shouldn’t put people on a pedestal of perfection and expect them to fill in the holes in your soul.

“What about ‘My companion?’” Poe raised his eyebrows, and when Takeshi continued to frown in consternation, he nodded solemnly. “Too formal?”

“Too… I don’t know.” Takeshi threw up his hands, before taking a seat on their shared bed. He felt tired, and Poe’s needless prodding about putting a label on their relationship was making him feel crabby.

“My partner in crime?”

“No, that sounds like what we’re doing is a felony.”

“My darling man?”

“Fuck. No. Poe, stop.” Takeshi’s eyes closed, and he counted back from 3 before reopening them to Poe’s perplexed expression. He didn’t want to offend the AI, but this needed nipping in the bud before it grew out of hand.

“Am I to assume that you wish for this relationship to remain a secret?” Poe’s tone was stiff, somewhat hurt, and Takeshi’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Before he could argue against Poe’s deduction, the AI forged on. “I presume that you are wary of the social backlash you may receive if others were to know you were dating an AI.”

“No, Poe, I don’t give a fuck what other people think of our relationship. It’s none of their business. This whole thing?” Takeshi circled a finger in the air, motioning between their faces. “It’s… more than that.”

“Then explain, my dear, as best as you can.” Poe reached out to squeeze Takeshi’s shoulder comfortingly. It helped with the nerves, somewhat. “I will do my best to alleviate your stress. Tea?”

“Tea.” Takeshi nodded stiffly and scooted back on the bed. He leant back against the headboard, watching whilst Poe busied himself making their drinks. Poe wasn’t to blame for his lack of understanding. He knew a lot about human nuances. He understood concepts of tradition, and family, but at the end of the day, Poe wasn’t human. He probably held very little knowledge, let alone have the capacity to empathise, with the mess Takeshi was about to throw at him.

“Here you are, just the way you like it.” Poe announced brightly as he brought over two steaming mugs. Somewhere along the line, Poe had changed clothes, and was now wearing only his white suit shirt and slacks, and his sleeves were folded back to his elbows. His tie and shoes had also vanished, and he padded closer on socked feet. Takeshi took his tea in both hands as he tried to scramble together some words that would best explain their situation. He didn’t want to offend Poe further, and would need to be careful how he phrased the next few minutes of conversation. Poe joined him in leaning against the head board and looked at Takeshi expectantly, prompting him to begin.

“Okay, so… in order for you to understand this, you gotta know about a few things. First: You know the switch into Ryker’s body wasn’t the first time I’ve changed sleeves.”

“You have mentioned that before, yes.” Poe was smiling so earnestly, it made Takeshi’s heart swell. “You have lived such a wonderfully varied existence, my love.” Poe was so lifelike, so animated, more than most of the people Takeshi met in this life.

“Well… see here’s the thing. My past sleeves weren’t always male, I’ve been cross-sleeved before.” Takeshi waited a beat, and when Poe nodded respectfully, he continued. “It doesn’t happen all that often, and when it does, usually people don’t have a problem with it. They still identify using a name they feel comfortable with, and for the time they’re in that body, life goes on.”

“Like our dear friend, Ava?”

“Exactly.” Takeshi sipped his tea, and thumbed over the rim of the mug as he considered that example. “So, whilst Ava was in that body, everyone still called her Ava, because deep down that’s still how Ava wanted people to refer to her. She’s solid in her belief that she is a woman.”

“When you were cross-sleeved, did you still hold onto your birth name?” Poe enquired with a tilt of his head, and Takeshi sighed before continuing.

“Yeah, but to be honest, I’m not sure why the fuck I even hold onto that name. It’s what I’ve always been called, other than “Kovacs”, and I can’t be bothered to replace it, I guess. What I’m trying to say is… some people naturally associate themselves with a name and gender, and it doesn’t matter what sleeve they’re in, the personal identity they have in their head stays the same. Usually, a person’s gender identity lines up with the sex of the sleeve they’re born into… and if they’re lucky, they never wind up being cross-sleeved before they reach real death.”

“ _Usually_.” Poe echoed, and Takeshi nodded, pleased that Poe had picked up on his implication.

“Some people are born in a sleeve that doesn’t match their gender identity, and luckily there are options like surgery, or re-sleeving, to make them more comfortable. They don’t always go down the physical alteration route, sometimes a simple name or pronoun change is enough, but it’s nice that the option is there.”

“Certainly, one should always feel comfortable in one’s own skin. Am I right in supposing that that is not the case, for you?” Poe kept his tone light, conversational, but Takeshi’s throat felt too tight to do any more than nod. It was a long minute, before he continued.

“I was born into a male sleeve, and usually, when you’re a kid, you don’t really notice anything different. You’re…just a kid.”

“You did not go through puberty, did you?” Poe was listening with such intensity, and Takeshi felt relieved that he was being taken seriously. He had never tried to explain this to anyone before, and it was a tense, personal topic to meander through.

“No, one day I was baby faced and half my height, the next I got switched into a CTAC sleeve and told to go to work.”

“How did the change make you feel?” Poe held out his hand, and Takeshi squeezed it in his own.

“That psycho-surgery patch you downloaded is really coming in handy isn’t it?”

“It has its advantages in difficult conversations such as these.” Poe rubbed his thumb over Takeshi’s knuckles, and placed his tea down onto the nightstand, so that he could better massage Takeshi’s hand in both of his own. “Carry on?”

“Right…the change. I hated it at first, nothing felt familiar, I didn’t even sound like myself. My body was so grown up, that it felt almost explicit, illegal to look at my own naked body in the mirror. They don’t tell you about how alien, how uncomfortable you’ll feel, being surrounded by adult men in the locker rooms. They make comments about your body, other people’s bodies, pass jokes around about sex, that you have no frame of reference for. I didn’t look like a child, so they didn’t care about what they said in front of me.”

“You had to grow up fast, mentally, adapt to hormones you had otherwise not experienced in the past.”

“Yeah… I didn’t complain, because they said they would keep Rei safe, give her a good home. I guess it would be similar to if someone came in here and tore up all the architecture and made this place into a casino or something.”

“If someone were to do such a thing, they would find themselves in several pieces before they could even raise a sledgehammer.” Poe drew himself up to a proud height where he was sat beside Takeshi, and it made him snort a laugh. “Takeshi, if you are uncomfortable being in an adult male sleeve, you have adequate funding from your contract with the Bancroft’s to acquire an adult female sleeve if you feel that better suits your identity.”

“I had thought about doing that.” Takeshi finished his tea, and set the mug down next to Poe’s own. They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Takeshi looked away with a wistful smile. “Then I realised, that even when I was cross-sleeved, I didn’t feel like I fit into that body either.”

“‘Fit in’ how?”

“Well…People treat you differently, subliminally, when you’re presenting as a male or a female. People look at this,” Takeshi gestured to himself with his free hand, and Poe raised his chin inquiringly “and they feel intimidated, or they respect you more because you’re presenting as a man. In a female sleeve, I felt expectations to dress or act a certain way, and people deferred to my male-sleeved colleagues even though I _clearly_ knew the job I had to do. So no, I don’t think a female sleeve is the right choice. If anything, I don’t…feel like a part of me is either male, or female.”

“And therefore, when I refer to you as my boyfriend…”

“It feels wrong, like you’re talking about someone else.” Poe was quiet for a long time, and he seemed to be looking back and scrutinising all of the previous instances he had referred to Takeshi as a man, or used masculine terms of endearment. “Look, I’m not even sure what I’m saying makes sense anymore, I’m sorry Poe. Forget about it.”

“Absolutely not, Takeshi. You deserve to have your identity respected. Respecting you is something that I take very seriously.” Poe’s voice was brazen, confident.

“So if I asked you to stop calling me your 'boyfriend', or your ‘man’ or whatever, you would just be cool with that?” Poe turned Takeshi’s hand over in his own, and raised it to press a kiss to his knuckles.

“Consider your request granted. How would you like me to refer to you?”

“Takeshi is fine, or Tak, I guess. I don’t mind ‘He’ or ‘Him’, but ‘They’ and ‘them’ is nice too. That doesn’t imply any kind of gender.”

“Your wish is my command, I promise you, it will not happen again.” Poe reached up and stroked Takeshi’s cheek, and Takeshi leaned into the touch with a relieved expression. “A new proposition then: From now on, we shall be ‘Yours’ and ‘Mine’. How does that sound?”

“‘Yours’ and ‘Mine’… I like that. No other names or epithets.”

“Good, I am pleased we have reached a solution that suits both of our needs.”

“How are you so…fine about all of this? No offense, but I thought you would take a lot longer to rationalise it.”

“I’m an AI, our concept of gender and identity is rather loose. I, myself, am neither male, or female, and whatever I choose to look like is for aesthetic purposes, rather than fulfilling any societal or familial obligation. In short: I am simply ‘Poe’.”

“Huh, now that you mention it, that does make a lot of sense. Sorry for doubting you.”

“Not at all, I often find myself doubting the efficiency of the gender binary when it comes to the human race. From an evolutionary and biological perspective, I can see the benefits of having separate sexes. However, one’s sex does not, as you so rightly pointed out, always conjoin with one’s gender identity. The belief that one’s biological sex should be tied to societal expectations and have a profound impact on a person’s socio-economic status, or the level of respect and power they are granted, has always remained a mystery to me.”

“What can I say? Humans love putting things in neat little boxes.”

“Well they ought not to. There’s nothing wrong with scrapping, or changing the system, if the system is not fit for purpose. Besides, humans don’t really belong in boxes, unless one pokes in a few air holes first.” Poe was smiling wider now, and his attempts to lighten the mood drew another huffed laugh from Takeshi’s chest.

“You should go to one of those crazy Meth parties, sit down with the guys in charge and tell them enough is enough. You’re doing away with gender.” Takeshi joked, and Poe leaned in to press a kiss to their lips. “I _really_ can’t imagine that going well, somehow.”

They leaned, shoulder to shoulder, against each other for a little longer. Poe was the first to speak, looking up at Takeshi and squeezing his fingers again.

“I’m glad that you sought to tell me, Takeshi. You are worthy of respect; your identity is of great value to me.”

“Thanks Poe.”

“My pleasure, darling. If you ever want to tell me anything, you know, you are always welcome to do so.”

“Well…there is more.” That seemed to catch Poe’s interest, as he once again turned on the bed to face Takeshi’s taller form. “This one’s a little more tricky to explain.”

“Fire away.”

“I don’t really…feel the need to have sex.”

“Because I am an AI?” Poe didn’t seem so offended this time.

“No, not just with you, with anyone.”

“But you slept with Miss Ortega, and Mrs Bancroft.” Takeshi winced at the second name, so Poe added hurriedly: “Although, that time was non-consensually.”

“Don’t remind me, and you’re right. I know what I’m saying sounds false, I have slept with people before, but it was less about wanting to have sex, and more about wanting to make the other person feel good. With Ortega, I knew she desired the sleeve I was in. It was just sex, we got caught up in the adrenaline and emotions of the Bancroft case, that was all.”

“Now, now, Takeshi. Don’t be callous. You know quite well that you had feelings for Miss Ortega, and she felt a great deal for you.”

“Okay, I did fall in love with her.” Takeshi rolled his eyes, before crossing his arms loosely over his chest. “She had this… amazing spirit, and a righteous streak that made you want to never give up. I would never have solved the case, or stopped Rei, without her.”

“You could have been very happy.”

“Yeah, but she deserved better.”

“So, your sexual conquests have all been about fulfilling another person’s pleasure?”

“When you put it that way, I sound so valiant.”

“Many women would faint at the concept. I’ve been told that male-sleeved individuals still lack in the satisfaction department.”

“Yeah, well, when your first time is with someone like Quellcrist Falconer, you learn to enjoy doing as you’re told.” Takeshi smiled as his reflected on his time with Quell. They had had such a brief, tender relationship, and Takeshi knew that she would always be a large part of what influenced him today. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy the act. I love making whoever it is feel good, I like giving them pleasure, I just don’t desire it myself. I don’t feel a longing to fuck anyone. When Miriam influenced me with her pheromones, I felt some kind of desire, but it wasn’t good, it was uncomfortable. I felt like my body and my brain were being torn in two opposite directions, so I didn’t have a choice but to go along with it until she’d had enough.”

“And your time in VR?” Poe broached the subject carefully, and he saw Takeshi’s skin crawl visibly, a shudder running through him.

“I hated every second of it.” Takeshi replied curtly.

“It must have felt good, then, to decapitate him.”

“More than words can say.”

“Well, I can assure you, Takeshi, I will never expect any form of sexual gratification from you. I have no need for sex, and as an AI, a desire for intercourse is something that one can rather easily opt out of.” Poe winked pointedly at Takeshi then, the same way he had, when he had downloaded the psycho-surgery programming for Lizzie.

“Wait, so if I _did_ want to sleep with you, you would have just downloaded a few pages of code and suddenly you would have been all for it?”

“Precisely.”

“That’s…a little messed up.” Takeshi nodded slowly, wide eyed, as he considered it. “You ever worry about the fact you can change your programming so easily? When you start chopping and changing bits like that, how do you even know who you are anymore? I could wake up tomorrow and you could have switched personalities completely.”

“Nonsense, Takeshi. I would never do such a thing. My current script suits us both, and I like who I am, when I am with you.”

“Thank god for backups…” Takeshi pressed a kiss to Poe’s hair, and took Poe’s hand back in their own. “I was worried that Leung had fried you completely.”

“I promised to take care of you, Takeshi. As long as this hotel stands, I will always return to it, and to you, if you need me. I suppose that, even if The Raven were to crumble into disrepair, I would still find a way to come back, even if I had to download myself into a digital wrist watch.”

“Well, in that case, I’d better go out and buy one.” Takeshi feigned a hurried move to get up, and Poe laughed at him, taking him by the hand and tugging him down once more. Now laying cuddled together, with Poe’s head on his chest, Takeshi stared out across the suite as he considered the past few minutes of conversation.

Poe, as always, was refreshingly honest and unbiased about everything Takeshi put to him. Takeshi supposed that from an AI’s perspective, the intricacies of human social conduct and societal expectations were something of great interest. Poe was not bound by the laws and limitations of taboo and social stigma, and whilst he expressed a very human anger at illegal and vulgar behaviours, the concept of fitting in, or conforming to ‘the norm’, was something he cared very little for. Poe never worried about gender, or sex, or whether anything Takeshi did was ‘weird’. He was unconditionally patient when it came to Takeshi’s faults. He was always there for him at the door of The Raven with a smile and a greeting kiss, and respected when Takeshi did not want to be touched. Poe took everything in his stride, and if he were human, many would have called him a saint.

“May I ask you something, Takeshi?” Poe had raised his head from Takeshi’s chest, and was blinking at him owlishly. It prompted Takeshi to tickle beneath Poe’s chin, and the AI batted a hand at the touch affectionately. That ticklish reflex, Takeshi had discovered, was something Poe had installed himself voluntarily, claiming that sharing humour between friends and partners was a catalyst for intimacy in all its forms. When Poe had disclosed as such, Takeshi had put his theory to the test with extreme thoroughness.

“Go on?”

“Do you enjoy being told what to do?” Poe propped himself up onto one arm on Takeshi’s chest, and Takeshi regarded him with a confused stare.

“What gave you that impression?”

“Earlier, you stated that with Quellcrist, you enjoyed doing ‘as you were told’. You have already admitted to liking the act of giving carnal pleasure to others, and I wondered if that translated to outside of bedroom activities as well.”

“You mean, like a role play?” Takeshi joked, but Poe’s face remained serious, studious in its expression. “I mean, I do my best work when I’m not thinking independently. Sometimes it’s easier to let someone else have the reins, but not just anyone, you understand? I’d trust you, Poe, but that level of respect is hard to earn.”

“Of course, you set the bar very high when it comes to truly submitting yourself to others.”

“Bancroft might have owned my sleeve, but everything I did was for my freedom. I never did anything out of wanting to please that sick fuck.”

“Rightly so. Likewise, I refuse to conform to anyone else’s expectations. This hotel is a masterpiece, and even though my AI brothers and sisters love suggesting ways to… ‘spruce up’ my services, the only person I aim to please is you. Please return, if you will, to the topic at hand.”

“Yeah, I guess when I really trust a person, I can let go of a little bit of that control.” Takeshi wondered what Poe was getting at.

“Did you express an interest in such play with Quellcrist?”

“Yeah, she was the person who made me realise it, actually.” Takeshi wasn’t naïve, the topic of dominance and submission in its sexual context was something he was knowledgeable about. Meths, especially, preferred to keep ‘pets’, or sex slaves that fulfilled their every whim, no matter how depraved. He remembered at Bancroft’s party, how he averted his gaze from a Meth that held a leather leash in his hand. A young man, who’s sleeve appeared to be barely legal, was connected to the leash by a studded collar around his neck. He had knelt at the Meth’s feet, adorned with makeup and jewellery, and stared up at his ‘owner’ as though he were the only person in the room. Takeshi supposed that if the relationship was consensual, he had nothing to be concerned about, but with Meths you could never be too certain. “I don’t enjoy anything that hurts or humiliates. If people are into that, that’s their jurisdiction. I won’t judge, but it’s not for me.”

“A little too close to home?”

“Yeah. Everything else is fine.”

“What sort of play did you partake in? If I know examples that you enjoy, I can work accordingly.” Takeshi licked his lips slowly at Poe’s question, and Poe waited patiently for him to answer.

“We’d only do it when we were alone, for starters. I don’t enjoy exhibiting my weak spots to everyone, it’s got to be private.”

“Understood. Anything that we did would be within the confines of The Raven.”

“Good...” Takeshi immersed himself back into reminiscing about Quellcrist, and Poe saw the shift in his eyes as he recalled a particularly good memory. “Sometimes she would just sit, on a chair or a rock or something, and I would sit by her feet. She used to put her fingers in my hair, and tell me to breathe, or relax…” Takeshi’s hand crept up of its own accord, and ran through his hair slowly, before he let it drop to his side on the duvet. “I used to have horrible nightmares, and I would wake up to find her writing in her journal, or reading alone by the lake. One time, I fell asleep with my head on her knee, just like that. I wasn’t even particularly tired that time, she just put me in such a deep state of relaxation that I drifted off.”

“Sounds heavenly.” Poe murmured, his voice encouraging Takeshi to continue.

“Another time, I got so frustrated with her after a mission. I don’t even think that we had failed the mission. I was just so tired, emotionally, that I said something stupid. I was a total jackass about it. Instead of punishing me, she sent me to the lakeside to be alone for the rest of the day. That night, when she finally came down, she didn’t way a word aside from telling me to take off my shirt. I thought she was going to flay my back, or some other punishment.”

“What did she do?”

“She… touched me.”

“Touched you?”

“Yeah, like a massage, all over my spine, all the way up to my neck. CTAC trains you never to turn your back on the enemy unless absolutely necessary, but I let her have it, willingly. I lay flat on my front, and let her work her hands over me, all the while she told me how I could trust her, how I could place my faith in her leadership. It worked. She didn’t need to break me with violence, that wasn’t her way.” Takeshi appeared lost in the memory, and it prompted Poe to smooth a hand over Takeshi’s chest. He shuddered under his touch, but continued speaking, and Poe fought the urge to smile. “I let her take what she wanted, not because I was cowering, afraid of her, but because I wanted to submit to her.”

“Understandable, she sounds like a formidable individual.”

“She was, and when we were in the field together, she only needed to look my way, or say a few words, and I would follow what she said. She never did it with anyone else, just me, and there was nothing sexual about it. It just felt good, to listen to her, to make her proud. I can’t really explain it other than whenever she told me I did well, nothing else, and no one else’s opinions mattered.”

“Do you believe it would be of benefit if we engaged in a little playing ourselves?” Poe wriggled his fingers on Takeshi’s chest, and Takeshi shifted so he was propped up on both elbows.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I have a perfectly good pair of hands, and your sleeve has a perfectly good head of hair, if you catch my drift, darling.”

“On the bed? Or..” Takeshi let his eyes wander to the hearth, and the chairs positioned around it.

“Here will do nicely, if you wouldn’t mind getting a little bit undressed.” Now it was Takeshi’s turn to blink at him, wide eyed, before he reached up to start undoing his shirt eagerly. Poe knelt upright as he watched, his hands on his knees and the balls of his socked feet digging into the soft sheets. Takeshi removed his trousers as well, then stretched out on his front after some gentle nudging from Poe. He felt vulnerable in only his underwear, which was a ridiculous notion, as he had stood naked in front of the AI plenty of times. This was a different, however as Takeshi wasn’t just letting Poe _see_ their vulnerability, but they were also letting Poe _own_ it too. “Are you quite comfortable?” Poe asked, once Takeshi was prone on the bed.

“Peachy.” Takeshi mumbled into his elbow, their arms were crossed beneath their chin.

“Right… now then my dear.” Poe’s voice was close to their ear, and Takeshi suppressed a shudder as one of his warm hands ran over his right shoulder. Takeshi tilted his head to one side, exposing the vulnerable curve of his throat, and Poe rewarded them with a kiss to their cheek. “I’m going to massage you, no other funny business, or surprises. You’ll be quite safe here, do you understand?”

“Before I turn grey, Poe.” Takeshi snarked softly, but his voice was a soft purr.

“I promise it won’t take quite that long.” Poe’s other hand joined its partner on Takeshi’s opposite shoulder, and he began to knead slowly, rhythmically smoothing his fingers over Takeshi’s toned body. For all of his strength, Takeshi was as weak as a kitten beneath him. Poe praised him softly under his breath whenever he heaved a particularly deep sigh, or as he worked to subside any tough knots in his muscles. “That’s it, darling. Close your eyes, let go for me. Does that feel good?”

“Yeah.” Takeshi’s voice was more of an exhale as he fought to keep his eyelids open. Poe was able to exact the perfect amount of pressure onto his body, and his sensitive fingertips found every last strain or ache within his bones. As Poe swept his thumbs down to Takeshi’s lower back, he felt Takeshi’s muscles tense up very slightly, causing him to lean down again and whisper:

“No surprises. I won’t ever lie to you, Takeshi.” This time, when Takeshi trembled, his face turned in against his arm. Poe unfurled his fingers either side of Takeshi’s rib cage like a butterfly, applying the slightest pressure all over his waist, and Takeshi relaxed once more. “Good… you’re doing so well, darling. Lift up for me?” Poe dared to cinch his fingers in against Takeshi’s ribs a little firmer, and instead of resisting, staying put, Takeshi raised himself up onto his forearms. He arched his back, so that his entire midriff was exposed. Poe commended his efforts by sliding his hands under Takeshi’s stomach, working down and around either side of his hips. He spread his palms against Takeshi’s navel, and Poe listened as Takeshi once again held his breath. Tension was evident beneath his fingertips, and the muscles in Takeshi’s arms bunched up, their shoulders drawing towards his ears.  “What are you thinking about, love?”

“VR.” Was all Takeshi said, and Poe hummed in assent, having already suspected as such.

“Would you like to lay back down again?”

“Please.” Poe slid his hands out from beneath Takeshi’s stomach, never leaving his skin. Instead, he risked pressing his palm very lightly against the back of his neck, his other hand poised on one of Takeshi’s biceps. The effect was instantaneous. Takeshi seemed only too happy to melt back into the blankets. He groaned as Poe tightened his hold on his nape incrementally, but he stopped before his fingers were fully grasping his neck. Underneath his fingertips, Poe was sure he could feel the warm hum of Takeshi’s stack.

“I’m going to place both of my hands around your neck, and manipulate your vertebrae, Takeshi. Do I have your permission?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Takeshi’s voice was back to that melted softness, and Poe smoothed his hand away from the firm muscles of his upper arm, to fully enclose the vulnerable curve of Takeshi’s neck. Poe circled his thumbs carefully, from the base of Takeshi’s neck, past his stack, up to the hollow concavity at the back of Takeshi’s head. Takeshi groaned again, which made Poe smile. His pulse was sluggish under Poe’s fingertips, which were still cupped around his throat, and the heat of his blood, pumping so close to the surface, radiated through Poe’s own body.

The intimate quiet of their earlier conversation, coupled with the fact he had managed to reduce Takeshi to a pliant, purring house cat, made Poe’s entire mind light up. At his core, he was programmed to serve, to want guests to stay in his hotel and to please them. His love for Takeshi went far beyond this simple automated “want”. His brothers and sisters may crow about their varying successes in luring depraved, unruly, lustful individuals into their parlours, but this type of affection, this trust that Takeshi was radiating, was something none of them would ever experience.  

Poe continued to massage over Takeshi’s tranquil form for another hour, drawing out more sighs, and groans, until he was certain that the poor thing was deeply asleep. Poe made a move to climb from the bed, when Takeshi’s hand nudged tiredly across the sheets, groping for his own.

“Stay.” Takeshi rolled slowly onto their side, and he patted the bed behind his hips. Taking him up on the offer, Poe slid under the sheets behind Takeshi’s back, and wrapped his arms protectively around him. They both drifted off soon after that, Poe allowing his physical form to shut down as he remained at a low-level vigilance over the building. Poe would make good on his vow. No harm would come to Takeshi Kovacs whilst he was in his care, and god help anyone who attempted to take him from him.

**Author's Note:**

> Phew! Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think <3
> 
> Altered Carbon was a phenomenal series, and I'm so excited for Season 2!  
> If you would like to share your headcannons/thoughts on Poe/Tak, or anything Altered Carbon,   
> you're welcome to do so in the comment section down below! :)
> 
> \- SunshineGrimes


End file.
